Apparatus for foiling backings



Nov. 20, 1956 w. ACHILLES APPARATUS FOR FOILING BACKINGS Filed Aug. 31,1954 NAVNNAYAVVAv/w AY/Q APPARATUS FOR FOILING BACKINGS Werner Achilles,Celle, Germany Application August 31, 1954, Serial No. 453,395

12 Claims. (Cl. 154-37) The present invention relates to an apparatusfor foiling backings, and more particularly to an apparatus for foilingbackings such as paper, cardboard, and the like, with a band-shaped foilcontaining a cellulose compound such as cellulose hydrates, celluloseacetates, and the like.

It is an object of the present invention to avoid the defects ofapparatuses hitherto known in the art.

It is another object of the present invention to guide the baud-shapedfoil so that the same is free of tensions and runs smoothly in a slidingmotion, so that the foil cannot tear and is not subject to an elongationor curling.

It is a further object of the present invention to shorten considerablythe path of the foil through the apparatus so as to eliminate anysources of error connected with a prolonged path of the foil.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide anapparatus of the kind described hereinabove which requires theattendance of a single operator.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description thereof in connectionwith the accompanying drawings showing, by way of example, an embodimentof the present invention. In the drawings Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic sideelevation of an apparatus according to the present invention, some partsbe ing omitted for the sake of clearness,

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of a part of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a detail of Fig. l on an enlarged scale.

Referring now to the drawings, the apparatus comprises a system ofcylinders or rollers including a cylinder 1 adapted to carry a roll ofband-shaped foil 10. a plurality of guiding rollers such as 2, 2a, 2b,2c, and 2d, a glue-applying roller 3 forming part of a glueapplyingdevice to be described more in detail hereinafter, a pressure rolleradapted to be heated by warm water and directly driven by the gear 50 ofa motor 25, a counterpressure roller 11 provided with a suitable rubbercovering (not shown), foil-spreading rollers such as 8 to be describedmore in detail hereinafter, a takeup cylinder 13 spooling the backedfoil, an auxiliary roller provided with a rail 20a to be described morein detail hereinafter, and a driving roller 18 forming part of a leadingdevice including an endless band 12 and a tightening roller 19, saidleading device leading the backing to the counter-pressure roller 11.

All these rollers except the guiding roller 2, the driving roller 18 andthe tightening roller 19 are arranged inside a housing generally denotedby and comprising a front wall 31, a top wall 32 and a rear wall 33. Thehousing 30 consists preferably of steel and is subdivided by ahorizontal intermediate wall 34 subdividing the housing 30 into an upperportion 35 and a lower portion 36. The upper portion 35 of the housing30 is subdivided by a wall means 22 into a front part 37 and a rear part38. The wall means 22 have an upper edge States Patent 0 F 2,771,120Patented Nov. 20, 1956 39 arranged at a distance from the top wall 32 ofthe housing 30. A roller 9 is arranged above the upper edge 39 of thewall means 22 and separated by a gap 40 from the top wall 32 of thehousing 30. The roller 9 guides the band-shaped foil 1a through the gap40 so that the foil 1a ascends in the front part 37 and descends in therear part 38. The gap 40 forms a drying channel for the air flowingthrough the gap 40 in the direction of the arrow 41.

The path of the band-shaped foil 1a after leaving the cylinder 1 shallnow be described more in detail as follows:

The foil 1a passes over the first guiding roller 2 arranged outside thehousing 30 which it enters through a horizontal slot 42 arranged justabove the horizontal partition 34. Then the foil 1a passes around asecond guiding roller 2b arranged inthe front part 37 of the housing 30near the partition 34. Then the foil 1a is led between the glue-applyingroller 3 and a third guiding roller 2a which presses in the workingposition thereof the foil 1a against the glue-applying roller 3 drivenby a V-shaped belt 52 driven by the pressure roller 10 driven directlyby the motor 25 arranged at the bottom of the lower part 36 of thehousing 30. The glue-applying roller 3 dips into a glue container 4forming part of the glue-applying device. The container 4 is open at theupper side thereof and glue is led into the container 4 by a first pipe5 dipping with the lower end thereof into the container 4. The glue isWithdrawn from the container 4 by a second pipe connected with a pump(not shown) pumping the glue into a glue reservoir (not shown) arrangedat a high level, from which the glue is returned through the first pipe5. The third guiding roller 2a presses inthe working position thereofshown in full lines, the foil 1a against the roller 3 and may be movedinto an inoperative position indicated in dotted lines which it reachesby moving the roller 2a in the direction of the arrow 43. Theinoperative position is taken by the roller 2a at stopping periods ofthe apparatus in order to avoid a gluing of the foil to theglue-applying roller 3 which is stationary during the stopping periods.

The container 4 is provided at the upper edge thereof with a rail 6 forwiping off any excess glue from the glue-applying roller 3 so that theglue is applied to the foil 1a in a uniform thickness. The rail 6 isrigidly connected at the ends thereof with the casings 6a of ballbearings (Fig; 3) in which the glue-applying roller 3 runs with thetrunnion-like ends'3a thereof which are supported by ball bearings 3bthe casings of which are rigidly supported by vertical walls a and 69bof the steel housing mentioned hereinabove. The casings 6a are supportedby steel or iron members 61; which are connected by connecting members4a with the glue container 4. Thus any vibrations of the rail 6 areequalized and a uniform. application of glue is assured. Thus the gluecontainer 4, the glue-applying roller 3, and the rail 6 form a wholewhich can be observed through a sliding window 7 arranged in'the frontwall 31 of the housing 30' above the slot 42.

The band-shaped foil 1a passes over a pair of guiding rollers 2carranged in the front part 37 of the housing 30 after which they passover a first foil-spreading roller 8 arranged in the front part 37 ofthe housing 30 in contact with the roller 9 arranged above the upperedge 39 of the wall means 22. The foil-spreading roller 8 is shown in afront elevation in Fig. 2 and provided with two threads 8a and 8bextending from the mid-portion to the outer parts of the foil-spreadingroller 8, respectively, the threads 8:: and 812 being oppositelydirected. The foil-spreading roller 8 is in contact with the 3 roller 9so as to be driven oppositely to the direction of rotation of the roller9. The threads 8a and 8b of the roller 8 have the eiiect that theband-shaped foil in is smoothed even when the apparatus runs at a highspeed. Afterpassing the roller 9 the band-shaped foil in descends in therear part 58 of the housing 3i) and passes downwards over furtherguiding rollers 2d to the pressure roller 14) being in contact with asecond foilspreading roller 8 which is provided with twooppositelydirected threads (not shown) corresponding to the threads 8a and 8b ofthe roller 8. ,The foil passes then ever part of the perimeter of theroller 10 and into the gap separating the latter from thecounter-pressure roller 11 into which is led the backing 44 guided by adevice generally denoted by 45 and arranged outside the housing 3hopposite to the rear wall 33 thereof. The foil in and the backing 44 areunited by the pressure exerted by the pressure roller 10 and thecounterpressure roller 11 so as to form a backed foil 46 which isspooled by .a cylinder 13 driven from the pressure roller 10 by means ofa chain 54 and a slipping clutch 56.

The pressure roller 10 is heated with warm water so that the gluerecovers the gluing power thereof which it has lost in the first pipeand the second pipe 5a. The warm water circulates continually throughthe pressure roller 1%} to which it is supplied by a supply pipe 14 andfrom which the water is withdrawn through an exit pipe Lia. In order tosecure a uniform pressure of the counterpressure roller 11 against thepressure roller over the entire length thereof the counterpressureroller it is hydraulically supported by means of two piston rods such as47, the pistons (not shown) of which are moving in two pressurecylinders such as 15 acting upon the of the shaft 11a of thecounterpressure roller it. The cylinders such as 15 are supplied withoil from an oil storage tank or reservoir 16 through a common oilpressure conduit 17. The counterpressure roller 11 is uniformly pressedagainst the pressure roller 10 by the oil pressure exerted on thepistons (not shown) of the pressure cylinders such as 15 so as to securea parallel running position of the pressure roller 10 and thecounterpressure roller 11 and to equalize any impacts to which therollers might be subjected. Since the pres sure exerted on the shaft 11aof the counterpressure roller 11 is uniform over the entire length ofthe shaft lie, the pressure may be much lower than in apparatuseshitherto known in the art; also the use of a rubber covering (not shown)of the counterpressure roller it contributes to this and allows tooperate with a much lower working pressure than the paper or asbestosrollers used hitherto in the art which frequently damage the backing tobe united with the foil by formationof creases if the backing consistsof paper, or by shocks exerted on the edges of a backing consisting ofcardhoard. Gwing to the lower working pressure the structure of thecalender need not be as strong as in the apparatuses known hitherto inthe art.

The backing to be covered by the foil is supplied by the endless band 12driven by the driving roller 13 and tightened by the tightening roller19 so as to form an upper portion 12:! and a lower portion 12b. Thedriving roller 18 is preferably provided with grooves 58 and driven bythe gear 50 of the motor through a chain 62.

The auxiliary roller 20 is provided with end discs such as 2% driven byfriction by the counterpressure roller It so as to rotate in oppositedirection, so thatthe backing 4d coming from the endless band 12 passesunderneath the auxiliary roller 20 before the backing 44 enters thespace between the counterpressure roller 11 and the pressure roller 10driven by an infinitely variable speed transmission (not shown) drivenby the motor 25. Thus it is accomplished that the backings 44 consistingof cardboard, paper, or the like which are placed on the endless band 12so that the side edges thereof do not (iii overlap, are kept in positionand the edges thereof are not bent upwards. The rail 20a connects theauxiliary roller 20 with the counterpressure roller 11, the rail beingarranged parallel to the axis of the auxiliary roller 2%. The rail 20aserves for introducing the backings 44 leaving the auxiliary roller 20,uniformly and without formation of creases into the space between thepressure roller 1% and the counterpressure roller 11 so that the backingis united with the foil 10 without any creases forming.

in order to ventilate the drying channels formed by the front and rearparts 37 and 38 and the gap 40, air is admitted by an opening 21arranged in the front wall 31 of the housing 39. The opening 21 containstwo upcrturcd sheet-metal strips 21a, 21b which are arranged one on theother, one of the strips being laterally dispiaccahle so that the sizeof the apertures can be varied. The air introduced through the aperturedstrips 21a, 21b arranged in the opening 21 moves upwards in thedirection of the arrow 48 and passes through the front part 37 of thehousing. Then it enters the gap 49 along the arrow 41 and descends inthe rear part 38 of the housing and leaves the same in the direction ofthe arrow 49 through a suction conduit 23. In consequence thereof the.air flows around the foil in in the gap 43 so that the solventcontained in the glue is removed and the glue is rapidly dried. Byadding hot air the drying process may be accelerated so as to render'possible an increase of the speed at which the foil 10 travels throughthe parts 37, 40, and 38 of the housing 3-0.

Preferably a suction conduit 32 is arranged outside and near the rearwall .33 of the housing 30 and communicates with the same. An airsuction device 24-is arranged between the upper and lower portions 12a,12b ofithe endless band 12 and connected with the downward branch 23a ofthe suction conduit 23. Thus it is achieved that the air is sucked offfrom the chamber arranged between the .upper and lower portions 12a and12b of the band 12 and enclosing the air suction device 24 so that thebackings 44 being on the endless band 12 are pressed by suction againstthe same, thus obtaining a firm attachment of the successive edges ofthe backings 44 to one another even before the auxiliary roller 20 isreached.

The operation of thisdeviceiis as follows:

The foil 10 is rolled off from the cylinder 1 and led by the guidingroller 2 to the slot 42 through which it enters thefront part 37 of thehousing. The foil 1a passes the glue-applying roller 3 and is then ledupwards through the front part 37 ,to the roller 9 being in engagementwith the foil-spreading roller 8 which spreads the foil covered withglue as described more fully hereinabove. Then the foil 1a descends inthe rear part 38 of the housing 30 and is led into the space between thepressure roller 16 heated by the pipes 14, 14a, and the counterpressureroller 11. In this space the foil is united with the backing 44 so as toform a hacked foil 4-6 which is taken up by the take-up cylinder 13. -Atthe same t me air circulates through 'the parts 37 and 38 of the housingso as. to dry the foil 1a. The air is withdrawn through the suctionconduit 23 and supplied to the suction device 24 arranged in the chamber50.

In order to prevent the vertically hanging foil band from hangingthrough in the horizontal portion thereof, the rollers are arranged soas to guide the foil band substantially in the vertical direction. Inorder to ac complish this the plurality of the rollers is arrangedvertically one above thebther in a vertical drying channel. By thisdesign of the drying channel the latter is reduced in its lateraldimensions to a fraction of the length hitherto usual in the art. Afurther advantage of this structure consists in that the working path ofthe foils is considerably reduced so that other sources of error due tothe usual length of the working path are overcome.

A machine of the kind described hereinabove needs only one-man service.

It should be understood that numerous changes may be made in the form,construction, and arrangement of the several parts of the illustratedapparatus for foiling backings without departing from the spirit andscope of my invention or sacrificing any of its attendant advantages,the apparatus herein described being merely for the purpose ofillustrating the invention.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for foiling backings with a bandshap'ed foil containinga cellulose compound comprising, in combination, a housing having afront wall, a top Wall, and a rear wall, a cylinder arranged outsidesaid housing opposite to said front wall thereof, said cylinder beingadapted to carry a roll of band-shaped foil, means for pulling saidband-shaped foil from said cylinder through a first opening in saidfront Wall of said housing, a glue-applying device arranged inside saidhousing near said first opening in said front wall thereof, saidglueapplying device applying glue to said band-shaped foil after thesame has passed said first opening in said front wall of said housing,means for guiding said band-shaped foil covered with glue upwards insaid housing near said front wall thereof, wall means arrangedsubstantialiy vertically in said housing between said front and rearwalls thereof, so as to separate said housing into a front part and arear part, said wall means having an upper edge arranged at a distancefrom said top wall of said housing, a roller arranged above said upperedge of said wall means and separated by a gap from said top wall ofsaid housing, said roller guiding said bandshaped foil through said gapso that the same descends in said rear part of said housing, a firstfoil-spreading roller arranged in said front part of said housing incontact with said roller separated by said gap from said top wall ofsaid housing, means for guiding said band-shaped foil downwards throughsaid rear part of said housing, a heatable pressure roller arranged nearthe lower part of said rear wall of said housing below said means forguiding said band-shaped foil downwards, a second foilspreading rollerarranged above said pressure roller in contact therewith, acounterpressure roller arranged below said pressure roller near saidlower part of said rear wall of said housing, a device arranged outsidesaid housing opposite said rear wall thereof for leading a hacking intosaid housing through an opening arranged in said rear wall thereofopposite the common edge of said pressure roller and saidcounteipressure roller whereby said backing and said band-shaped foilare passed between said pressure roller and said counterpressure roller,so as to form a back foil, and take-up cylinder arranged outside saidhousing opposite said front wall thereof, said take-up cylinder spoolingsaid backed foil after the same has passed a second opening in saidfront wall of said housing.

2. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, an auxiliary roller arrangedinside said housing near said opening in said rear wall thereof, saidroller having parts being in contact with said counterpressure roller soas to be driven by the same, and a rail connecting said auxiliary rollerwith said counterpressure roller, said auxiliary roller and said railleading the backing from said device to said common edge of saidpressure roller and said counterpressure roller.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, said leading device including anendless band, a roller driving said endless band, and a roller fortightening said endless band.

4. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, said counterpressure rollerhaving a rubber covering.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, a pressure cylinder supportingthe axis of said counterpressure roller, an oil reservoir, and apressure conduit connecting said oil reservoir with said pressurecylinder.

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, said glueapplying deviceincluding a glue-applying roller, a rail for wiping ofi excess glue fromsaid glue-applying roller, first ball bearing casings secured to theends of said rail, said glue applying roller having trunnions extendingthrough said first ball bearings, and second ball bearing casingsarranged in a wall of said housing and rigidly connected thereto, saidsecond ball bearing casings supporting the ends of said rail in saidwalls of said housing.

7. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, an air inlet arranged in saidfront wall of said housing, and a suction conduit arranged outside andnear said rear Wall of said housing, and communicating with saidhousing, said gap separating said upper edge of said Wall means fromsaid top wall of said housing forming a drying channel for the airentering through said air inlet and leaving through said suctionconduit.

8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, said leading device including anendless band having an upper portion and a lower portion, a suctionconduit arranged outside and near said rear wall of said housing andcommunicating with said housing, and an air suction device arrangedbetween said upper and lower portions of said endless band and connectedwith said suction conduit.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, and a motor arranged in the lowerpart of said housing, said motor driving directly said pressure roller.

10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, a V-shaped belt driven by saidpressure roller, said glue-applying device including a glue-applyingroller driven by said V-shaped belt.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, and a chain driven by saidpressure roller, said take-up cylinder being driven by said chain.

12. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, a gear driven by said motor, achain driven by said gear, and a driving roller forming part of saidleading device, said driving roller being provided with grooves andbeing driven by said chain driven by said gear of said motor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS116,173 Fitzgibbons June 20, 1871 499,274 Wilson June 13, 1893 1,154,874Meade Sept. 28, 1915

